Up Next
Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
Can We Solve the Air Conditioning Paradox?
Season 11
Episode 4
As Earth warms, billions of people in the developing world will face life-threatening heat waves, raising demand for air conditioning. But powering all that cooling is going to take more energy, which will, paradoxically, require more fossil fuels burning, creating more carbon and more warming. So scientists are developing new kinds of air conditioning, including solid, refrigerants.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By
12:56
After a century of industrial pollution and superstorms, New York's waterways needs help!
37:33
Crashing a car is usually a terrible accident. But sometimes, it’s a way to save lives.
18:10
A huge part of our identities, emotions, and our lives get tied up...Why is that?
10:57
X is everywhere and it’s probably thanks to math. But why is x the symbol for the unknown?
17:34
What’s the most average thing in the universe? We’re on a mission to find it.
17:48
New ideas come from chance events and unexpected connections involved in working together.
11:18
Our universe locked incredible secrets in a code written in rainbows.
13:54
Butterfly metamorphosis is one of nature’s most magical transformations.
14:03
Scorpions are an evolutionary marvel with venom that could save lives.
14:29
Join me on my visit to the most advanced cultivated meat production facility in the world.
14:03
Life on Earth may have stayed boring and small if it weren’t thanks to one deadly element.
17:58
How the CIA used Cold War technology to study and combat climate change